But those private views about pink-ball Tests being a virtual fourth format for cricket, rather than a part of the red-ball tradition stretching back to 1877, remain popular among players.
They had little reason to be dissuaded from those opinions during the chaotic third Test in Jamaica, where the West Indies suffered yet another humiliation to add to plenty in recent years, razed for just 27 and slotting in the second-lowest total recorded in Test matches.
This game was added to the calendar following Shamar Joseph’s pink-ball heroics in Brisbane early last year. It was hoped the more favourable time slot would help find an Australian broadcaster for the series. But the contest at the Gabba was far more finely balanced between bat and ball.
Players and coaches were scathing of the pink Dukes balls used for the game, which on the best pitch of the series seamed and swerved like a spitting cobra. Things were still more difficult under lights, the ball appearing to gather pace off the pitch and helping tall paceman Alzarri Joseph look as dangerous as Curtly Ambrose once was.
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